THITI WANNAMONTHATwenty-seven universities are being urged to unite into five clusters for research and development and focus more on market demand to optimise the use of government funding. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday that 100,000 studies have been conducted by universities and state agencies, but only 1,000 of them have found commercial use. "The universities should, therefore, come together and form a cluster to better use the state budget, and the R&D, once conducted, should meet private sector demands." Of the total 2.5 billion baht, 1.5 billion will be offered to 27 universities and Kasetsart and Mahidol universities will each be allocated 500 million baht. The government has pledged to earmark more funding once 27 universities unite and form clusters to conduct R&D in five sectors.

Source: Bangkok Post July 21, 2017 00:00 UTC